Tempted to buy one Facebook share? Think twice

The hype over the social network’s initial public offering has some people who have never bought stock asking how they could get a share when the company begins trading on Friday.

I’m not going to say whether or not Facebook is a good investment — that depends on how far above or below the $38 per share IPO price it goes — but I will say that buying one share rarely makes sense, unless you are planning to hold it for many years or just want to say you own a piece of Facebook.

Unless you already have a brokerage account, you usually will have to put up more than the price of a Facebook share to open one.

Online brokers Scottrade and E-Trade require a minimum initial deposit of $500, although once you have the account you could buy just one share of Facebook.

Charles Schwab generally requires $1,000 to open a brokerage account (unless you link it to a Schwab bank account or put in at least $100 a month). Fidelity requires $2,500 to open a brokerage account.

One exception is TD Ameritrade, which has no minimum if you fund your account with a check or wire transfer, but banks typically charge a fee for wire transfers. If you want to fund your account with an electronic funds transfer from your bank account, the minimum account size is $500.

If you open a new account at TD Ameritrade, you won’t be able to buy Facebook immediately unless you fund it with a wire transfer. “For non-marginable securities, which Facebook will be for first 30 days,” there will be a three-day hold on electronic transfers and a six-day hold on checks, including cashier’s checks, Ameritrade spokeswoman Kim Hillyer says. These holds do not apply to existing accounts or wire transfers to new accounts.

Once you have your account, the brokerage commission will eat up a good chunk of your profits on one share. Most online brokers charge a flat commission — generally ranging from $7 to $9.99 per transaction — no matter how many shares you are buying.

Some brokerage firms levy annual maintenance fees on small accounts. Although most of the online brokers don’t charge one today, they could at some point in the future.